heath

a couple of weeks ago the positive terminal cable came loose from the battery of my 1990 dodge d250. after i tightened it (because the truck didn't start until i did) i drove a few blocks to my friends house and noticed a burning plastic smell. i pulled over and noticed that the wires connected to the positive terminal had somehow grounded to the battery and started smoking, melting the plastic off the wires. i quikly adjusted the wires and everything was fine for a bout a week...when i was driving and my stereo started shutting off and on and the lights started dimming and brightning.
when i pulled over this time, one of the wires to the positive cable/terminal (not the main cable going to the starter, but one of the smaller ones) had pulled off...after i shut off the engine and tried to do a quik fix on the wire for the way home, i needed a jump. ever since then i have needed a jump start to get my truck started, or i have charged the battery over night. when it does get charged or jumped all the lights come on and off, stereo, almost everything is dimming and coming back on. once i shut it off the battery has been drained...there seems to be a power draw somewhere.
i cut off the burned ends of the wires that melted and put new "ring terminals" on them. i took in my alternator and the guy told me that the brushes were really really close to being bad, but he didn't see any sign of dulling, which he says happens to the brass spindle if the brushes aren't connecting with the spindle. i had the brushes replaced and he says i should get plenty of miles out of the alternator.
i also took in my voltage regulator and my battery for a test. both are good. so my next guess is the actual battery terminals. the ones on there are terrible. (see above, where they have trouble staying tight) the lead is coming apart from being tightened too much.
the thing is on the 1990 d250, the battery cables are really thick. i want to do a proper job on um. i was wondering what gauge they are? are they 1 gauge? could i use these?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Metra+-+...ci_sku=3398875
does someone know of better ones? i'm open to all and any suggestions...i'm also open to any ideas of other things i could do to figure out why my battery isn't charging. next thing i will probably have to do is take apart the wire harness and see if there are any wires that melted together? right?
thank you in advance. i appreciate any help/ideas.

Diesel Head

I had a bit of trouble similar to this a few months back.... I ended up just redoing the cables and putting on new ones. You can buy any length of 2/0 you want from napa and buy the new terminals with solder already in them. They probably got hot because of bad connections/corrosion increased resistance and they burned up. Hth

heath

i'll try and get to napa tomorrow. the thing about the 1990 cummins is that the turbo blower takes up a bunch of room on the side of the engine that usually has a second battery, so there is only one really big battery (sorry if you already know this), so the positive cable that goes to the starter is really big. i actually think it's a 0 gauge cable. see here->
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/at...onnections.jpg

i would like to match the terminal as close as possible so i've been looking at some heavy duty terminals that i think people are using for auto soundsystems like this one->
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aapex-0-1-2-...99446678331116
just don't know what gauge that cable is...and thank you for giving me hope that i didn't fry a bunch wires in the wiring harness, but i guess i'll see huh? i will call napa tomarrow for sure. thanx dh

nolafishr

I recently changed out the battery cables on my 93, I went with the 1.0 cables, had them made up at the local auto parts store, put marine type terminals on the battery to hook up extras, I had to install lock nuts on them because of a loose connection, the wing nuts that came with them did not hold good enough, I had a problem the next day, went to fuel up the truck and went to leave when done and the truck would not start, had to play with the battery connections, I got it to start and when I got home that is when I installed the lock nuts on the terminals, have not had a problem with it since then.

MARF75

I just seen some battery post "shims" at Carquest the other day. I never knew such a thing excisted.
They are like slip covers that go over the post. Not that they would be a permanent fix but the ends on my cable are as tight as you can get them and they are still loose, like the cable and post have been cleaned to much and there isn't enough material left.
I was at work,50 miles from home, the other day and had to clamp the positive cable tight with vise grips to get her to start. So needless to say its time for new cables over here too.

heath

interesting. shims huh? i was thinking about doing something like that for a minute, but i think i want to get this done as solid as possible.
does anyone know the gauge of the positive starter cable (the big red one) that comes stock on the 91?
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/at...onnections.jpg
is it 2/0, or 1/0, or just 0? i found the conversion table on wikipedia, but i'm not sure how to measure it. i will probably just replace the cable, but i would like to match the stock one.
@MARF75- i found this really interesting tutorial video using fusion lugs and military style battery terminals. i like this way, i'm not sure i can find the parts..(video is a bit long in the tooth. i skipped through most of it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlEUqZSyo4I
thanx again everybody for the help

searcher

Maybe this helps. This is a good terminal http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Ca...223_0063685508 . You can get lugs from NAPA also but I find it cheaper actually to take the heavy cables to our local fab shop and have the lugs installed. I had a terminal installed on my negative cable for 8 bucks and they supplied the terminal. I did find a part at Advance auto parts that came in handy. It was a threaded adapter that replaced the nut for tightening the battery terminal and allowed me to hook up extra wires.

BKTC

I'm half way through the process of replacing my battery connectors and cable ends. My cables are 2/0 (two ought) size and I got the ring terminals from NAPA alongwith the clamps they call "Military Style" clamps.
I originally tried the "Marine Style" clamps but they have the connector bolt molded into the connector instead of through the connector and are easily loosened. Go with the Military Style..............

You can fill the ring connector with solder then heat the end of the cable, flux it. Then melt the solder in the ring connecter and insert the cable while maintaining heat. You then have cable ends that will bolt up to the clamps. You also get a second location to bolt on additional "hot" wires with the Military Style clamps.

Additionally, that stuff pictured in the other thread is for stereo equiptment and NOT for the kind of Amps these trucks use.........

Billy

Jim Lane

If the cable is still good and the acid hasn't wicked its way to the other end you can cut off the end and replace it by crimping on a new one, I have done this for people locally.

When I made my new cables I made then using 2/0 welding cable and crimped on new wrought copper ends, I do not like the lead ones.

These are the battery terminals I use, you can also get them made by Belden.

I also install ring terminals and military ends, I put them on my military Mep-003 genset.



This is how I crimp all of the lugs and terminals on.



This is how my ground cables are setup, the alternator is grounded to the block and the block is grounded to the frame, also a 2/0 ground from block to the battery



Main battery ground lead goes to the block near the starter, ground for accessories come off the solid copper buss bar.



Jim

Jim Lane

I make my own adapters by using a stainless steel 5/16" stud and a threaded coupler, remove the battery terminal nut and secure it using the coupler, thread the stud into the coupler now you load all of your accessories onto the new stud and secure them with a few copper washers and a nut.
now all of your wires are kept away from the battery terminals.